The Miller decision in which a "shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length" [does not have] reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia..."
Conflicts with current law enforcement provisioning practices. Case in point, the U.S. Border Patrol has issued RFI's for 16" Remington 870's.
Should present 'military / militia' practices be de facto evidence to overturn Miller?
It's a typo, I know, but one you probably want to address:
...in 1963 (during the Civil War)
That would be 1863. Nineteen sixty-three would be during the Civil Rights struggle.
And U.S. Citizen has a good point - one I hope Alan Gura has the opportunity (and knowledge of) to bring up during oral arguments tomorrow.
Ah gee, fellows, this only goes to show that I shouldn't publish geek-length opinion pieces until I've reviewed them 'the next day'.
Yes, the turning point of the Miller decision is one which the judge seemed to BEG some lawyer to bring up ... that the short shotgun was used in WWI and was known as a 'trench gun'. It was configured sufficiently close the the 'Miller' gun that it would have been the military version, so to speak. The 'Miller' gun was thus definitively suitable for militia use, but (lacking a defendant)nobody would say it so the judge couldn't include that in his consideration.
And yes, I was discussing the civil war, not civil rights. Thank you for pointing out a confusing typo.
Commenting by HaloScan
